Enrico Dalle Carbonare was born in Vicenza (Italy) on 1973. He began to approach the art world in the late 1980s, as a graffiti artist. He developed his style by studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where he learned the almost Zen-like discipline of abstract expressionism, in Emilio Vedova's "Pittura C" classroom.
Tell us your story, why did you become an artist?
I've always enjoyed drawing, as a child it was like playing, spending hours with pencils. Then, in 1989, I went with my parents to Pisa, and I was thunderstruck by an artist painting a huge mural..it was Keith Haring! From then on I felt the inspiration, how could those "childish" drawings be so powerful? And I began to study "street art," searching everything I could find to inform myself.
When you create a new work, how do you go about it? What comes first?
Making abstract art is making new art. In a contemporary world that is overburdened, submerged and invaded by images, all this becomes increasingly difficult, because everything seems to have already been seen. Then we need to create the "unseen", a painting in which we can immerse ourselves and imagine. We miss imagining, dreaming.
We must search deep within our soul to paint something that is free from patterns. Before painting I look for the sound of the surrounding environment, that of the woods, the sky, the singing of birds. Then, when I feel free from some constraints, I act. Like a sacred rite, I mirror myself with the canvas, and here the monsters or angels come out. They show me the truth.”
What can you tell us about your studio, what makes it special to you and how does it influence the way you work?
My studio is the basement of my house, which is very large.There I concentrated all my memories, my objects, my fetishes.From street art pieces, to hanging photos, all fragments of memories from the last 30 years that are part of and create my inspiration. Lots of paint cans and brushes of all kinds, and sprays. And, of course, a big boombox from where, before painting, I cue the music, which is usually oldschool hiphop, funk, or jazz. Music is an integral part and fundamental ingredient of my artistic action. It is the biggest influence of it.
Is there a work of art in your life that has especially impressed you?
I was brought into art first by NY graffiti, also as a philosophy of life, later, with my school studies, I was impressed by informal, and abstract expressionism. I think, in a different way, it is a kind of street art as well, it has something fresh and mysterious that attracts me. The aesthetics of the sign, the non-form.Definitely my inspirers are, in no particular order, Basquiat, Franz Kline, Tapies and Vedova. But I love all art from the 1950s onward.
Reach to the stars: where will you be in 5 years?
I am planning to move to either New York, or Berlin, where I think my work makes sense. In the meantime, I try to take long trips with my camper, where in nature I find inspiration.
Learn more about the artist:
